The Director General of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Lanre Gbajabiamila, has advanced the cause of the 15-year-old organization, performing excellently to the satisfaction of the Governing Board and other stakeholders of the commission, especially in management and generation of revenue for the government.
In less than three years of leadership, Gbajabiamila has efficiently turned around the fortunes of the commission and earned billions of Naira into the coffers of government in Internally Generated Revenue of the lottery commission, which he has raised astronomically by over 400 per cent.
This was contained in an explanatory and demand letter authored by the legal advisor to Gbajabiamila, Dr. Frank Ike Chude, in response to a petition sent to the Director General and the media by an Abuja-based company, Global Integrity Crusade Network.
He was accused of of malfeasances in the running of the commission.
Following the protocol of the originating petition, which was copied to the media, the legal adviser also copied the media with a copy sent to our organisation.
The company had accused Gbajabiamila of corruption, financial misappropriation, abuse of office, contract splitting and granting of unwarranted waiters to operators among other allegations.
Chude debunked all the allegations contained in the petition, describing them as “fictitious, unfounded, malicious and gravely defamatory.”
Chude said: “Our client has been running the commission diligently, effectively, efficiently, honestly and in total compliance with the statutes of the establishment and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He has, in profound measures added verifiable values to the commission.
“The National Lottery Regulatory Commission under the leadership of our client (Mr. Gbajabiamila) has been performing excellently to the satisfaction of the Board and its other stakeholders. The profundity, creativity and zeal with which our client leads the commission have resulted in astronomical increase in the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the commission.
“For instance, the internally generated revenue of the commission which had been hovering between 200M and 400M Naira since its establishment in 2005 shot up beyond One Billion in less than 12 months after his assumption of office and since then the revenue continues to increase, steadily.”
Dr. Chude disclosed that the Internally Generated Revue of the commission was N275,923,119.50 in 2016 prior to the assumption of office of Gbajabiamila in 2017, adding that with the strategic and effective management of the DG and the support of the Governing Board, Management and the entire members of staff of the commission, the IGR has been growing very fast.
He said: “From N275,923,119.51, which he met on arrival, the IGR rose to N512,365,635 in less than three months of operation in 2017. In 2018, it shot up to N1,164,714,228 in 2018 and increased to N1,239,072,706.52 in 2019.”
And prior to his engagement in the lottery commission, the legal advisor disclosed that Gbajabiamila as the pioneer Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Lottery Board “had created enviable, yet to be matched records in lottery business in Nigeria with his stellar performance at the Lagos State Lottery Board where he raised lottery revenue from almost Zero to 8 Billion Naira”.
Dr. Chude further disclosed that “all the agencies copied in the petition had already thoroughly investigated all the allegations and found our client unblemished and innocent,” stressing: “The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), and the Governing Board of the Commission had investigated the allegations contained in your petition and cleared our client of any malfeasance. The commission was given a clean bill of health.”
The Legal Adviser demanded for immediate retraction of the malicious and unfounded allegations with a well worded apology to be published in both local and international print and electronic media, including at least three Nigerian Newspapers, within seven days.
He also demanded for the payment of N5 billion “in seeming compensation to our client, for the irreparable loss to his highly earned image and reputation.”